8 Primary Stages of App Development

Developing an application is a major investment, so it’s important that you do it right, and ensuring that you execute every step thoroughly will ultimately produce a better outcome. Everybody’s needs will be different, but as far as app development goes, almost every app will pass through the following stages on their way to becoming an official app on the market.

1. Researching

Every new project requires some level of research, and if you want the rest of your development to be successful, you will do thorough research on your idea that includes demographics and information about your intended buyer group. You’re essentially doing groundwork, and the stronger your base is, the more accurate the development will be.

2. Wireframing

Wireframing is essentially sketching your ideas, but on a more sophisticated scale. Wireframing helps you refine your sketches so that they are more accurate and easier to understand, and here you can start to decide how each of your desired features will work together to create a functional application, focusing on user experience.

3. Identifying Technical Issues

You will need to start to understand the technical feasibility of your ideas, and by this point, you should have a clear idea of what your app will look like. Technical feasibility mostly concerns back-end systems and their ability to support the app, and to do this, you typically need to get access to public API’s. Also, keep in mind that every platform will have different requirements.

4. Prototype

A prototype provides users and stakeholders, among others, with a basic preview of your application. Creating a prototype will let you know what your app feels like and how it will look for the most part. It will also provide the information that you need to make adjustments and design changes. A prototype is a vital part of app development that gives a well-defined preview of your app.

5. Official Design

Next, you can create a more official design that involves hiring UI and UX designers. Here, your app will really begin to come together as your designers work on everything from user friendliness, fluidity, touch, and feel, among other things. This is often the most time-consuming part.

6. Development

During development, you will develop the functionality of your app and fix bug issues, and here, you will typically release the app to a certain group of users for some further testing. Development should involve a flexible methodology so that you can quickly adapt and make changes based on trends and bugs.

7. Testing

Through the development of your app, you will conduct testing, but you will test for a final time before you actually release the app. The feedback that you get during beta testing will let you know if your app is ready or not.

8. Launching

Once you are satisfied with the test, you can start planning your launch. You will want to lock down a date and create a formal launch, and once you have released, you can continue tweaking the app and making it better.